During Tuesdays thin trade the New Zealand dollar rose to one-month highs against its US counterpart, as the greenback was still vulnerable, following the weak home sales data, that came out from the United States on Monday.
NZD/USD rose to a session high at 0.8005 at 2:00 GMT, the highest point since June 19th, after which consolidation followed at 0.7993. The cross was likely to find support at July 22nd low, 0.7909, while resistance was to be met at June 19th high, 0.8054.
The dollar remained broadly weak after on Monday an official report showed Existing Home Sales in the United States recorded an unexpected drop in June. Sales decreased by 1.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual level of 5.08 million units during June, which was the second highest level since November 2009. In May the sales figure was revised down to 5.14 million units from 5.18 million units previously. Experts had projected an increase to 5.25 million homes. This data dimmed the prospects of a possible scale back of Federal Reserve Banks stimulus program this year.
Additionally, both Australian and New Zealand dollars extended their positions on Tuesday for the third consecutive day as higher commodity prices and the drop in volatility boosted the demand for high-yielding assets. It became clear that gold prices reached a one-month high on Monday, while the price of the iron ore remained close to its highest point since April. Bloomberg reported that one-month volatility for the kiwi dollar touched 11.5%, a level unseen since May 17th. The equivalent rate for the Australian dollar dropped to as low as 11.1%, the lowest since May 30th.
Ultimately, the kiwi dollar gained positions against its Australian peer, as AUD/NZD pair dropped by 0.22% to 1.1591 at 7:17 GMT.